Central Obesity Tied to Cardiac Patient Mortality

TUESDAY, May 3 (HealthDay News) -- Central obesity is associated with increased mortality in individuals with coronary artery disease (CAD), even in those with a normal body mass index (BMI), according to a review published in the May 10 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Thais Coutinho, M.D., from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and colleagues assessed the relationship between measures of abdominal obesity, central (waist circumference [WC] and waist-hip ratio [WHR]) obesity, and total obesity (BMI) with mortality in patients with CAD. Data from 15,923 individuals, collected from studies published between 1980 and 2008 and from unpublished sources that met the inclusion criteria, were analyzed. The inclusion criteria were CAD at baseline, measures of WC or WHR, mortality data, and a minimum follow-up of six months.

The investigators identified 5,696 deaths during an average follow-up of 2.3 years. There was a significant positive correlation between central obesity and mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 1.70), whereas BMI was inversely correlated with mortality (HR, 0.64). In individuals with normal BMI and in obese individuals (BMI ≥30 kg/m²), central obesity was correlated with higher mortality (HR, 1.70 and 1.93, respectively).

"In subjects with CAD, including those with normal and high BMI, central obesity but not BMI is directly associated with mortality," the authors write.

Several of the study authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.